Motley Pirates
by Lacey Barbed Wire
Summary: Maria Piper is a young girl who falls through a stupid magic hole in Phoenix, landing on Vegapunk's island laboratory in the North Blue. Without any better options, she becomes a pirate because, well, why not? Accepting and looking for OC's!
1. Casting Call

Hey everybody! I'm looking for OC's to fill out a crew for my new story, the Motley Pirates. Now, I've already made the captain, and a friend of mine made the first mate, but all other positions are open.

I'm looking for a:

Chef

Carpenter

Navigator

Doctor

Musician

And two random positions that you can choose if you wish. Yeah, only 9 crew members I'm afraid, but if I like your character they might still pop up as a villain or other character. They might even make Supernova!

Now, I would like to lay down a few ground rules. First off, no Devil Fruits that are used by actual One Piece characters, with the exception of characters from filler arcs. Second of all, no logia or mythical zoan fruits. Third, no Will of D. Fourth, no giants. And finally, if you make a cyborg, they have to be pre time skip Franky level or lower in terms of their robotic parts. No Pacificista, made by Vegapunk characters please.

Basics:

Name, plus nickname. (This will be written western style, surname last, so please keep this in mind)

Appearance:

Desired position:

Backstory:

Personality:

Race (human, fishman, merperson, cyborg, long arms or long legs)

Method of attack (Devil Fruit, weapons, style of martial arts, etc.)

Techniques (optional. Things like gum gum pistol and such, just to give me an idea of how you want them to be fighting)

Once again, thanks for checking this out! Please submit your character via review or PM!


	2. Update

Hey, thanks for the responses I've already gotten! Sorry, but if you could also include your character's age, thanks.

Carpenter/Shipwright-Ira Aegis (submitted by Condor-K)

Archeologist-Alistair Mitch (submitted by HikariLight99)

Thief-Jules K. O'Malley (submitted by Bass The Echidna)

Navigator-Darrius Roberts (submitted by robbo2480)

Musician-Lunesque Choshi (submitted by Condor-K)

Chef-North Blue (Submitted by Cole D. soul)

Doctor- Deidre Grey (Submitted by DemoniaDew702)

Sorry if you submitted characters that didn't make it into the crew! Thanks for the characters!

Thank you all!


	3. Chapter 1

A girl stumbled as she landed on a large patch of gravel. She was rather slight, but also tall for a young woman at five feet ten inches. Her hair was dark brown and very thick. It was also very short and very messy, as if she had woken up and only made a token effort to get it to lie down. Likewise, the girl's clothes were average-slightly baggy blue jeans, red suede vans, and a black short sleeved shirt with a red, stylized 'W' on the chest. The only things that stood out about her were the small scar at the left corner of her mouth and her eyes, which looked like they couldn't decide if they wanted to be blue or green. All in all, she was almost weirdly not weird.

Maria looked around in confusion. One minute she'd been walking around the streets of downtown Mesa Arizona, and the next she was...somewhere else. She swore. Curse her sense of curiosity! She'd known that touching the strange blue circle that had appeared in front of her was a bad idea, but she'd still done it. There had been a second's pause, then she'd been yanked through to wherever she was now. Maria took a step forward, then jumped as a giant man appeared in front of her. He wore a strange white hat and a black jacket, and he was clutching a bible.

For his part, Bartholomew Kuma was rather puzzled. He'd been making his monthly visit to one of Vegapunk's private labs when the sensors had detected a large energy surge, and then the sudden appearance of the girl who now stood in front of him. The doctor had sent him to investigate and, if necessary, defend the lab. It didn't seem as if that'd be necessary though, since the girl appeared to be even more confused than he was. But, the World Government being what it was, he'd probably receive orders to kill her if anybody but Vegapunk found out about her. Deciding to be merciful, Kuma pulled off a glove. He'd send her to Dragon. The leader of the Revolutionary Army would protect her. The girl's eyes widened as he lashed out at impossible speed...only for most of his strength and speed to disappear when his skin made contact with her. As a result, rather than being seemingly teleported unharmed, the girl went flying back thirty feet and skidded across the rocky ground looking rather the worse for wear. Now Kuma was baffled. The feeling that'd come from touching the strange girl was exactly like touching seastone. But the girl hadn't touched him with the powerful substance, he was sure of it. Putting his glove back on, he picked the girl up. Thanks to his size and cyborg enhancements, Kuma could still but hard even without his Devil Fruit. In fact, he'd actually done more damage to the girl than he would've if his powers hadn't stopped working. Not being cruel, Kuma decided to take his chances and bring her to Vegapunk for care.

Three days later-Vegapunk's private lab

Maria slowly opened her eyes. "What hit me?" She croaked. To her alarm, her voice sounded metallic and robotic.

"My friend unfortunately." A voice said. An old man walked over to Maria's bedside. "Do you remember how you got here?" She tried to nod but couldn't.

"Yes. It was some kind of weird blue circle that sucked me in." The old man nodded.

"I suspected it might be. I'm afraid that you fell victim to a rare but not unheard of phenomenon known as a SMH."

"SMH?" Maria asked, confused.

"Stupid Magic Hole." The old man clarified. "It's not the name I would have chosen for it, but any attempts by those few who research the phenomenon to change the name always fail. Their notes change back to SMH, and the researchers themselves often find themselves experiencing strange but often harmless ailments until they give up. But I'm afraid that time is of the essence so we must save this conversation for another time. To be blunt, you were hit by an open hand traveling a little over fifty miles an hour. It did severe damage to your body, shattering several bones, rupturing or collapsing more than a few organs, and shredded most of your muscles. It's quite fascinating really. Examination of your blood reveals that your DNA deviates ever so slightly from humans here. It's as if your species evolved on a vastly different planet than this one, where speed was placed on higher importance than durability."

"Can you fix me?" Maria asked. She'd understood most of what he'd said, but she lacked the context to make sense of some of it.

"Certainly. In fact, for the most part I have completely repaired you. However, like I said, you seem to be less durable than most humans. As you are in perfect health other than the injuries you sustained three days ago, and you are mostly in shape though you appear to be more of an academic than an athlete, I can only assume that the problem is genetic. As such, if you were to leave my lab in the same condition you were in when you arrived here on this island you would experience far more severe injuries than the average person and you would quite likely die within the space of a few months."

"I see." Maria moaned. "So I'm stuck here?"

"Not at all. I am an expert in the fields of mechanics, engineering, and biology. As a result, I was able to easily come up with two possible solutions to your problem. That's why I woke you up. Currently you're speaking via a scanner I attached to your throat, which reads the vibrations of your vocal chords and says them out loud for you. The only reason you are still conscious is because of the large amounts of painkillers in your body at the moment. I needed you to be capable of making a choice and giving consent. As it stands you have three options. The first is to become a cyborg. I would encase much of you body in an extremely strong metal and cover you in a layer of synthetic flesh. You would gain abilities far beyond that of most people, but you would also lose some of your humanity in the process. The second options is a formula I have developed that would greatly increase the durability and endurance of your muscles, skin, and bones. You would gain some muscle mass, but not so much that you would resemble a body builder. However, it is experimental, and I can only guarantee a survival rate of sixty percent. The third option is to undergo no enhancements, though I already explained the drawbacks of that choice." Maria stared at the ceiling, her mind racing.

"The second option. How strong would I be if I took it?" Vegapunk thought for a moment.

"Theoretically, there would be no real limit. Obviously you would need a strict regimen of exercise to increase your strength but from the outset I'd say you could lift upwards of one ton. I designed the formula based on the strength of Vice Admiral Garp who can lift close to twenty seven tons." Maria's mind continued to race. Ultimately, it was the remembrance of a childhood dream of hers that made her choice for her.

"I'll take the second option." She said firmly. Vegapunk nodded.

"Very well, I shall begin immediately." He said, hitting a button and putting her back to sleep.

Six months later-the island of Hallos

Olivia winced as she slammed backwards into the fountain. It had been a long time since somebody had been so completely able to beat her. In fact, in the eighteen years after she'd eaten her Devil Fruit at the age of twelve this was the second person to ever actually break one of her bones. The man in question loomed over her, grinning maliciously. "Not so high and mighty now, are you?" He mocked. Olivia fought to keep the pain off of her face, but it wasn't easy.

"Hey!" A new voice snapped. Both Olivia and the man turned to look at the newcomer, a young woman with short brown hair in a black shirt with a red stylized 'W' on the front. "Whatever your problem with her is, I think you've made your point!" The man turned to the new girl with a sneer on his face.

"Who do you think you are?" He demanded.

"Piper L. Maria. You?"

"I am Captain Morrick of the Dust Devil pirates!" The man boasted. To his surprise, Maria didn't react at all.

"Never heard of you. Now go away." Morrick snarled and didn't move. "Seriously, shoo."

"That's it! Dust Devil!" Maria raised an eyebrow as the man turned into a dirt tornado and came roaring toward her. Olivia winced. While not very flashy, she knew from experience that that move hurt. Getting peppered by pebbles going eighty miles an hour from all sides was painful.

"Oh, a Logia, right?" Maria asked. "Odd, I thought you only found those guys in the Grand Line." She grinned. "Sorry buddy, but I'm afraid I'm your kryptonite. Almost literally actually." She punched the tornado. Those watching's jaws dropped as Morrick flew back into a wall, solid again. "Logia but no weapons or Haki? Yeah, good luck against me." Morrick snarled and charged at her again, dust swirling around him. "Persistent little brat aren't you?" Maria sighed. "If you insist. Wonder Pistol!" She drew back her fist and punched him in the face, flooring the pirate and knocking him unconscious.

"Captain!" Several mooks yelled, drawing pistols and pointing them at Maria, who paled.

"Crap. Did not think that through." She muttered. Before anybody else could do anything though, Olivia thrust her hand out.

"Heatwave." The mooks yelped as their guns grew too hot to hold. They tried to draw their swords, only to encounter the same problem. Faced with the prospect of fighting the two women by themselves with no weapons, the men did the smart thing, surprisingly enough. They ran. Maria blinked, then turned towards Olivia.

"Thanks." She said with a shy smile, walking over and holding out a hand to help her stand up.

"Don't mention it." The older woman drawled. "After what you did, saving you from your own stupidity was the least I could do."

"Hey!" Maria protested. Satisfied that she'd erased any ideas of her being weak from the younger woman's mind, Olivia grabbed her hand, then let go with a curse as all her strength left her.

"What the hell...?" Olivia stared at her hand, confused.

"Oh crap, sorry." Maria said quickly with a wince, grabbing a pair of leather gloves, one red and one black, from her pockets and pulling them on. "I'm so sorry!" Olivia looked up at her sharply.

"You did that?" Maria winced again and nodded, staring at the ground.

"Yeah, sorry. Apparently I have some sort of radiation that makes Devil Fruits not work." That's what Vegapunk had told her anyway. From what he'd said, her home had nothing remotely supernatural like Devil Fruits because the very atmosphere suppressed such things. In short, her body rejected Devil Fruits.

"I see..." Olivia said slowly, cautiously taking the now gloved hand. "And how did you come by that power?" She asked, standing up. Now Maria's eyes were focused on something just to the left of Olivia's head.

"I was born with it." She said with a shrug, her eyes darting back to meet Olivia's. The older woman frowned but decided not to say anything.

"Well, thank you for your help. I'll admit, I was poorly suited for fighting that man." Maria shrugged sheepishly.

"It was no problem." She looked at the dropped weapons on the ground. "How'd you do that anyway?" She asked, pointing.

"I ate the Heat-Heat Fruit." Olivia said frankly. She was never shy about her powers. "It gave me the ability to manipulate the temperature of any object in a given area." Maria's eyes widened.

"That is so cool!" She squeed. "You could do so much with that!" Olivia blinked, nonplussed by the girl's behavior.

"Yes, well, if you'll excuse me I need to see a doctor about my arm." She turned and walked away before Maria could say anything else. Maria sagged and sighed, then turned towards the still unconscious body of Morrick and began rooting through his pockets for loot.


	4. Chapter 2

Maria woke up with a groan. "I've got to come up with a better way to make money." She sighed. Vegapunk's enhancements had made her very, very resistant to getting drunk. Since she was only seventeen she had no way of knowing if she'd been a light weight before, but she definitely wasn't now. So she got herself into drinking contests. Lots and lots of drinking contests. She'd earned almost two thousand gold coins last night, though Vegapunk had neglected to explain exactly how the money system worked. He probably didn't have to worry about money too much, so it had probably slipped his mind. And Maria had had bigger worries at the time, so she didn't think to ask. Chief among said worries had been Vegapunk telling her that nobody understood how SMH's worked, so the odds of her ever getting home were slim to none. That information had put her in an angst coma for a week. She had friends after all, and a family that she did in fact care about. But, after a week or so of moping (followed by three more days of angst coma when she realized that she'd never see Once Upon A Time or Doctor Who again) she set about training, trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Unfortunately, there was a difference between being resistant to getting drunk and not being able to get drunk. Which meant that at the moment she was dealing with a minor hangover. While that wouldn't be so bad for some people, this was her first hangover, and she hated getting headaches. Maria sighed and swung herself out of bed, then got dressed before heading out of the room she'd gotten at the cleanest inn she could find within a reasonable price range. To her annoyance three men where standing outside her room with clubs. "You made a lot of money last night little girl." One of the said with a leer. "Hand it over and we won't hurt you too badly." Maria sighed again.

One minute later she continued on downstairs, three men with concussions and broken bones lying on the ground. "Now what?" Maria mused, frowning thoughtfully as she waited for the waitress to come to her. Vegapunk had advised her to keep moving and never stay on one island for too long. He'd even given her a carvel that he'd modified one day when he got bored. It more or less operated itself, she just needed to pull up the anchors and aim it. Sadly her ship, which she'd named The Elsa because she was a geek like that, couldn't navigate on its own so she was just wandering around aimlessly at the moment. That was fine of course, it wasn't like she has a goal in mind, but still. At least she was only one person, so she didn't have to worry about running out of food too quickly.

Thirty minutes later

Maria was walking down the street toward the docks when she was stopped by a group of marines. She stared at the large, muscular man who seemed to be the officer in charge at the moment. "Are you the young woman who beat Captain Morrick yesterday?"

"...No, sorry." She said after a second's thought. "Unless he lost a drinking contest, I think you've got the wrong girl." She turned around to leave, only to find herself surrounded by more marines. "I get the feeling you don't believe me." Maria sighed, turning back to the man, who smiled.

"It makes you more believable if you meet people's eyes." He advised her.

"Yeah, I have problems with that." Maria admitted sheepishly, meeting his eyes for about three seconds before looking around the area. "I blame my ADD."

"Witness say that you were able to counteract Morrick's Devil Fruit just by touching him." The officer began.

"Oh, that guy." Maria said, nodding. "I don't suppose there's a reward for beating him." The officer's lips twitched upwards at this.

"Not when you leave them lying in the street. If you want the reward you need to take them to the nearest marine base." Maria nodded.

"Good to know, I'll keep that in mind. Now, did you want something?"

"We'd like you to come with us." He said flatly, his voice making it clear that he wasn't really asking. Maria shrugged apologetically.

"Thanks, but no thanks." She said. Vegapunk had warned her about this. The ability to cancel Devil Fruit powers with a touch would be something the marines would be very interested in. As in, they wouldn't take no for an answer. But after six months with Vegapunk she was really sick of being a lab rat, and at least Vegapunk considered himself her friend and cared about her not dying.

"I'm afraid it wasn't truly a request." The officer said, stepping forward. Maria looked around as the other marines tightened their circle around her. "If the rumors are true, then your abilities are far too valuable to simply let you wander around."

"I have Haki, so what?" Maria tried. The man sneered.

"A good try, but foolish. Haki merely allows one to touch a Logia user as if they were flesh, it doesn't force them back into a fully solid state. That ability belongs to seastone alone. Except, apparently, for you." Maria scowled.

"Please back off. I'm not in a good mood. I'm still dealing with some really bad news, and it's my period. Seriously, cramps are so much worse when you've got super strength." The officer rolled his eyes and drew his sword. "Well, crap." Maria groaned before charging.

At the same time

Olivia sighed and adjusted her sling as she walked down the stairs of her home. Her arm was definitely broken, and it would take quite some time before it could heal properly. At least her Devil Fruit didn't require her to make physical contact, not that she fought much out in the northern sticks of the North Blue. Morrick stuck around this area because he was a coward and lazy. Very few people in any of the Blue's could take on a Logia user, which made him particularly strong in this area. On the other hand, Olivia just didn't like chaos. She didn't have OCD, but she did prefer order. So she'd taken her money and moved to this island where things were mostly calm. She sighed. Or had been, until she failed to treat Morrick with the respect he felt he'd deserved and he'd attacked her, at which point the strange young woman had beaten him into the ground. Literally. Now she had a broken arm and the marines had been going around asking questions about the young woman. It never boded well when the marines took interest in a specific person that wasn't a pirate. In all honesty, she felt sorry for the girl. The only thing worse than getting the marine's attention was getting the attention of her mother. Olivia shuddered, phantom pains running down her right leg at the thought of her mother.

And then Maria went flying through the wall of her kitchen.

Olivia stared down at the young woman, her left eye twitching slightly. "You have got to be kidding me." She growled.

"Well that was surprising." Maria groaned, slowly sitting up. "I didn't expect him to be able to hit like that, not when he had a sword too."

"What, exactly, do you think you're doing?" Olivia demanded, putting her hands on her hips and glaring down at the younger woman. Maria's eyes slowly made their way up Olivia's body, stopping at her thighs.

"Oh, uh, hi Olivia. Sorry about this..." Olivia raised an eyebrow as the girl continued to gawk.

"My eyes are up here dear." She said with a smirk. At the moment she was simply wearing a robe, since it was easier to put on and loose enough to not cause her broken arm any real trouble. And, juvenile as it may be, effect she was having on Maria overrode her anger at the girl seeing her in said robe. She was still mad about the damage to her home though. Maria blushed and her eyes traveled further up before stopping at Olivia's cleavage. Olivia let her stare for three seconds before coughing. "Closer, but try looking a little higher dear." Maria finally met Olivia's eyes, now blushing so fiercely that the older woman was amazed her face hadn't burst into flames.

"S...Sorry." Maria stuttered. "I got surrounded by some marines. I tried to fight my way out, but the officer threw me through the wall." Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"And you're ok?" Maria grinned and nodded.

"Yep. I have super muscles!" She flexed her arms, showing off rather impressive musculature for a woman, which Olivia took a second to admire before focusing on the matter at hand. "I've been hit way harder than that, don't worry." She continued, still sitting down. Olivia nodded, bent down, heated her good hand to a hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and smacked Maria upside the head. "Ow!" The young woman complained, glaring up at Olivia. "What was that for?"

"Wrecking my home!" Olivia snapped, straightening up.

"Well excuse me princess." Maria snapped back. She paused. "Yeah, never saying that again." She muttered before glaring back at Olivia again. "It's not like I could aim where I landed." The two women continued to glare at each other until a group of marines, led by the officer, stepped inside via the large hole Maria had inadvertently made.

"Really Lieutenant?" Olivia snapped, throwing her good arm in the air. "You couldn't have waited until I kicked her out? It's eight in the morning. I'm not even dressed yet."

"Carpenter L. Olivia, you are under arrest." The lieutenant said flatly, drawing his sword. Maria and Olivia stared at him in disbelief.

"Under what charges?" Olivia demanded, her good hand balled in a fist and her jaw clenched.

"Oh, so that's your name." Maria said, looking up at the older woman. She blushed as everyone but the lieutenant stared at her. "Sorry."

"Assaulting a marine." The lieutenant said, acting as though Maria hadn't spoken.

"And when, exactly, did I do that?"

"Yesterday. We had a man undercover in the Dust Devil Pirates. You burned his hands with your Devil Fruit."

"Oh come on!" Maria snapped before Olivia could react. "How was she supposed to know that? Isn't that one of the risks of being undercover?" Olivia looked at her.

"As sweet as your protective instincts are dear, I am capable of taking care of myself." She informed her. Maria nodded, blushing and ducking her head.

"Sorry."

"Be that as it may, you assaulted an officer and hurt him so badly that he needed to be hospitalized." The lieutenant pointed his sword at Olivia. "So you will be coming with us as well." Maria growled at the man, glaring daggers, and Olivia smirked slightly.

'I love teenage hormones.' She thought as Maria stood up. "You take care of the rest of them dear." She told Maria. "The lieutenant here is mine." Maria blinked and looked at her.

"Are you sure?" Olivia nodded shortly.

"If he's the one who threw you through my wall, then yes. Bad enough to try and arrest me on trumped up charges. But to do so after causing massive damage to my home?" She chuckled and slowly shook her head. "He is dead." Maria grinned, nodded, and ran past the man. Said lieutenant attempted to strike her with his sword, but Olivia got to him first. "Heatwave." The officer swore and dropped his sword, turning and glaring at Olivia.

"Do you really want to do this?" Olivia smirked at him.

"Yes. Yes I do." He scowled and ran at her, fist drawn back. Olivia picked up a piece of a chair that Maria had broken by smashing into and threw it at the man. "Flash Flame." The piece of wood burst into flames right as it hit the man, causing him to let out a cry of pain. Olivia pressed her advantage, running forward. "Fire Strike." She said, heating her hand to boiling point and delivering a palm strike to his face, smashing the heel of her hand into his nose. The lieutenant let out a cry of pain and started to waver on his feet. Then, because she was feeling vindictive, Olivia kicked him in the groin, dropping him. She sighed and looked outside to see Maria happily fighting ten marines at once, then turned around and went upstairs.

Ten minutes later

Olivia walked out of her home dressed in black slacks and a silver blouse to find Maria rifling through a marine's pockets. She blinked. "What are you doing?"

"Checking for loot." Maria said, not looking up. "You never know what an enemy might be carrying around in their pockets. So far I've found sixteen gold pieces and one porn magazine." She frowned and looked at the marines' pockets. "Though I'm still not sure how he managed to get that in there." Shaking her head, Maria looked up at Olivia, then started staring. "Holy crap, you're Lana Parrilla." She murmured in awe. Olivia frowned and raised an eyebrow.

"No, I assure you I'm not." She said flatly. "And, once again, my eyes are up here dear. Where you hit on the head and so you keep forgetting where eyes tend to be located on the human body?"

"Sorry." Maria said, looking away very quickly and blushing. "You just look very much like someone I...knew." She focused on the loot she'd just gathered, then looked back at Olivia. "So, what now?" Olivia sighed, hefting her suitcase. She'd always been prepared to run, though she'd thought it'd be because her mother had tracked her down and not for being vaguely associated with an odd young woman.

"I'm leaving. It won't be safe here, not after I just beat the superior island for the outpost of this island. I just hope I can find a ship off of here before the word spreads." Maria perked up at that.

"I have a ship. You could come with me." Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"And by ship do you mean dinghy?" Maria shook her head and stood up.

"Nope, I've got a caravel. If you want, I could even grab some more stuff for you, there's plenty of room." Olivia looked at her thoughtfully. It would be nice to bring more than one suitcase of things. And Maria was...entertaining to say the least.

"Very well, lead the way Miss Piper." Maria grinned.

Author's Notes

Thanks for reading guys! Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Olivia raised her eyebrows at the ship. "Is it metal?"

"For the most part." Maria said, nodding.

"How does it float?" Maria opened her mouth, then closed it, frowning.

"You know, I'm not sure." She admitted. "I'm not really one for asking questions if I don't have to. It works, and that's all I care about." Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"I see. And the sails?" The whole ship had been painted a light blue that gave off the impression it was made of ice. The sails, however, were made of an icy blue material that looked suspiciously like gauze.

"I'm a nerd." Maria said with a shrug. "I asked the guy who made my ship if he could make the sails look like that, and he did." Olivia wasn't sure what to make of the 'nerd' comment, so she let it pass as she looked around.

"What is she called?" Maria beamed at that.

"Elsa."

"Interesting name."

"I'm a nerd." Maria repeated, shrugging again.

"What does that mean?" Olivia demanded.

"Don't worry about it."

Two hours later

Olivia was impressed. The Elsa was the most advanced ship she'd ever seen, even if Maria was very evasive about where she'd gotten her. Now though, she had another question. "What, exactly, are your plans?" She asked the younger woman. Maria shrugged as she squinted at the map.

"Find the One Piece, become the Pirate Queen." She said, turning her gaze to the compass and frowning. Olivia blinked, then raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, is that all?"

"Pretty much." Maria said, finally looking at Olivia. "Do you know how to navigate?"

"No." Maria shook her head with a sigh.

"Neither do I." Olivia arched an eyebrow.

"I noticed." Maria gave her a halfhearted glare, then chuckled.

"Well, looks like we're going to have to find someone who does before we hit the Grand Line."

"That would be advisable, yes." Olivia agreed. Maria peered at the map again.

"Well, provided that this map isn't upside down, I think we should reach an island in...three inches." Olivia felt her eye twitch.

"Could you give a more practical estimation?" Maria looked down at the scale on the corner of the map, then stared over Olivia's shoulder, muttering to herself as she calculated.

"Two days? Maybe three depending on the consistency of the wind?"

"I see. Tell me, why do you want the One Piece?" Maria shrugged.

"My touch cancels out Devil Fruit. I'm walking, fighting seastone. The Marines are never going to leave me alone. But if I become Pirate Queen, then they'll at least have to back off a bit. After all, when was the last time somebody attacked Whitebeard or Shanks?" Olivia nodded, accepting the point.

"Fair enough. But why not simply become an Emperor in that case?" Maria gave a sheepish smile.

"What little girl doesn't want to be a queen at some point in their lives?" She asked. "Admittedly, I always thought I was going to have to marry a princess to become one, but this works too." Olivia's lips twitched upwards. Maria was...interesting to say the least.

Two days later

"Ha! I got it right!" Maria yelled. "Suck it you stupid map! I am victorious!" Olivia gave a small smile. They'd reached the next closest island of the North Blue, Randia, in about the time that the younger woman had predicted. Suddenly a thought occurred to her and she looked at Maria.

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen. You?"

"Thirty." Maria blinked.

"Huh. I thought twenty five for sure." Olivia rolled her eyes at the blatant flattery. "You sure you're not Lana Parrilla?"

"This again? Who is Lana Parrilla?" Olivia demanded in exasperation. Maria blushed and looked away.

"Not important. Just someone who looks exactly like you where I'm from."

"Well you keep bringing her up..."

"That was the second time!" Maria protested.

"In three days." Olivia retorted as they slid into port.

"I...it's...drop it, please. Just my stupid brain." Olivia arched an eyebrow.

"You managed to get us to this island with a map and a basic compass despite having absolutely no knowledge of navigation. You're hardly stupid." Maria snorted as she offhandedly threw the anchor overboard.

"You don't have to lie. There are two things I'll never claim to be-intelligent, and attractive." She said flatly, lowering the gangplank. Olivia frowned.

"You really have no self esteem, do you?" She asked. Maria shrugged.

"Not really. It's fine though. It has the wonderful fringe benefit of making me immune to insults. Can't hurt me by calling me something I've already called myself." Olivia's frown deepened, and she filed 'work on Maria's inferiority complex' into her mental to do list. To their surprise, the harbor was empty of the normal hustle and bustle that would be expected. In fact, it was completely empty.

"This...is wrong." Olivia said slowly. Maria nodded.

"Look into it, or leave?" She asked the older woman. Olivia frowned thoughtfully, then shrugged.

"We might as well look into it. Worse case scenario, everybody's dead and we get free supplies." Maria stared at her for a long moment, then shrugged.

"Guess I can't argue with that logic, even it is pretty grim." She conceded. "Ok, let's go."


End file.
